Loving 'Hera Pheri' For 20 Years And Beyond
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Loving 'Hera Pheri' For 20 Years And Beyond - Entertainment

Loving 'Hera Pheri' For 20 Years And Beyond

Your favourite cult comedy is 20-years-old now

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Twenty years ago, I couldn't watch Hera Pheri in theatres because it was the year of 10th board exam for me and like it happens in any other Indian middle-class family, all connections to any kind of entertainment were abandoned for the sake of my studies. I only listened to my cousins laughing at the jokes Paresh Rawal's Baburao Ganpatrao Apte made and I couldn't figure out why they used to answer with 'Kabira Speaking,' whenever I happened to call them. I did fairly well in exams so I do not regret not getting on the Hera Pheri bandwagon which was pretty empty at the time. But later when I got a chance to rent the DVD and watch it my grandma's house, I realised that this was one of the funniest movies I had ever watched that also had Shaktimaan in it.

This afterthought made Hera Pheri a cult classic. When it came out on March 31, 2000, nobody would have imagined Suniel Shetty had the acting capability of making us laugh with deadpan humour. His Shyam was genuine and a lamb lost in the big city. The Hai Hukku Hai Hukku Haaye Haaye guy was attempting to beat the living daylights out of mischievous Raju and instead of cringing at action scenes (which was the typical response from me in the 90s), I was enjoying the chase in Mumbai's slums and Baburao's garage. Director Priyadarshan finally found the switch in Shetty that made the actor do something beyond fight and a bit of melodrama. He also brought tenderness to Shyam's relationship with Anuradha. I think that was a big turning point for Shetty just as it was for Akshay Kumar.

Kumar's street smart Raju was not far removed from his Khiladi persona. But the cunningness that started with hurting Shyam's job prospect, later developed in other movies, most importantly in the Housefull franchise that let him be mean as much as he wanted, but it always came with a redeemable quality. Kumar milked this opportunity to break the Khiladi stereotype of an action hero. He was clearly the bigger star among the trio at the moment. Therefore before the item song precedent became a mainstay, he already got two songs -- Jab Bhi Koi Haseena with Kaykasshan Patel and Tun Tunak Tun with Namrata Shirodkar.

Tabu, Asrani, Mukesh Khanna, Gulshan Grover, Kulbhushan Kharbanda did a fabulous job with the characters they were given. But Om Puri as Khadak Singh and Dinesh Hingoo in a small role as Chaman Jhinga gained more popularity as the years past. Jhinga's wrong number and the subsequent rude dismissal from Baburao is iconic. Your laugh automatically comes out when someone says, 'Wo mein mast tel me fry kar ke kha gaya,' when you ask them whatever happened to the fish. My friend Adit, without fail, posts the fish dialogue whenever he is cooking some marine life in his frying pan. It is a ritual and all the credit goes to Hera Pheri.

In the comedy of errors, it is Rawal's Baburao that has stood the test of time. Baburao is a favourite of this generation that speaks meme better than any other language. The satellite re-runs, availability on streaming platforms, and one generation passing down their treasure of happiness to the next has now given Hera Pheri the love and appreciation it always deserved. Hera Pheri is to Gen-Z folks what Andaz Apna Apna was to Millennials. I hope this puts things in perspective. Expect them to shame your taste in movies if you admit that you have not watched the movie. Babu Bhaiya has countless meme pages on every social media platform you can imagine. His dream to fill the water storage in his house with country liquor is #goals or #lifedream. 'Utha le re deva... mereko nahin, in dono ko utha le,' is a go-to curse line. Babu Bhaiya's sass level was far higher than the mere mortals like you and me. Here are some examples to refresh your memory -

Babu Bhaiya: Jyada mach mach kiya to raat me Ramlal ke saath sona padega
Shyam: Yeh Ramlal kaun hai?
Babu Bhaiya: Gali ka kutta.

Babu Bhaiya: Devi ka prasad mandir mein milta hai, garage mein nahin

Babu Bhaiya: Agar subah subah sandaas jana hai toh singer banna padega

Raju: Wo bathroom me kadi kyon nahi lagate aap?
Babu Bhaiya: Wo koi khajana hai jo kadi lagaun?

and the best of all...

Babu Bhaiya: Yeh Baburao ka style hai!

After all these years, you cannot imagine anybody else playing this role apart from Rawal. The hunch, the glasses, dhoti, vest, everything just transformed this versatile actor to an eccentric landlord in a congested slum in Mumbai. Rawal's Marathi dialect of Bambiya Hindi should be taught in acting classes! People praise him for portraying Sardar Patel, but this role is the real winner. What's better than making people laugh and make good memories?

Hera Pheri is one of the classics when it comes to Bollywood comedy movies. Its sole purpose is to make you laugh and it has never been coy about it. Even during the song Pon Pon Pon. They made Tabu dance and that is funny. You put on the movie as white noise and it will be a great companion. You put it on the family movie night and little ones in the family will have stumbled upon a great gem. You put it on for movie marathons with friends, you will end up speaking Babu Bhaiya lingo the whole time and the next few days will be all about Hera Pheri GIF and sticker reacts.

Hera Pheri is bae.

Cover artwork by Dhaval Punatar/AskMen India